The Free Army
by F-14 Tomcat Lover
Summary: An army of free men. An army that bows to no king or lord. An army hunting a traitor. An army that Kagome has never thought possible so early in history.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Who ever made Inuyasha and his partners own Inuyasha.

Claimer: I do own the Free Army though and all characters.

"_**Warriors of Freedom"**_

_**Prologue**_

"_**The Free Army"**_

The sun was setting towards his back. The small city that had once been his home burned brightly for all to see. He stood atop a hill, miles from the city, a testament to the great flames that devoured his home. Others stood with him, all of them young, like him. They were the only, but a few, but they were all the either survived or escaped their homes destruction, or both. They were, but young lads and lasses, but watching their homes burn and their childhoods robbed from them, they became young men and women, with only the thought of vengeance on their minds.

At that moment, a noble lord appeared with his army. They all looked at the youngsters before them. One could almost mistake them for dwarves, because they wore armor and carried weapons and had the fierce battle look of dwarves, but they lacked beards and all knew that Dwarves absolutely refused to shave. A beard was a mark of age and wisdom. It was also a mark of pride and respect among them, but these children were not Dwarves, but human children forced to fight and defend their home. A home that now burned.

"Damn Spanish!" yelled an enraged faceless soldier.

The noble lord and his army were from Northern Germany and was a proud Protestant Army. They had heard the calls of help from a group of allied city-states in the south that had been chosen to be religiously neutral in all religious matters and held a council and not a king. Now Catholic soldiers from the south, including Spain, the Italian peninsula, Austria, and a dozen other Roman Catholic states had sacked the city-states and most likely killed the elders of the cities and villages, but most would have most likely been taken prisoner. The lord looked at these young men and women robbed of happiness and freedom and decided then and there…

"You all shall come with us and be taught the ways of war," the lord said.

The children and his men looked to him.

"You shall form an army that bows to no lord and that fights for freedom," the lord continued. "You will form the beginnings of the Free Army!"

All around him gave an approving cheer that could be heard all the way at the Southern Catholic Army camps. The soldiers there stopped what they were doing and looked towards the direction from whence the sound came. Their blood had frozen with in their veins and the color of their faces paled, but a brash and bold young monk looked over and announced, "heretics and their feeble attemptsshall not sway the righteous of our cause," but a more mature priest merely shook his head.

"We have created a great threat to the Vatican and especially, to his holiness, the Pope," said the priest, little knowing how right he would be proven.

* * *

The next day saw the dead from the allied independent city-states buried and a few skirmishes with the Catholic Forces. That lasted about two weeks, three days. Then the lord's army moved northward with its new contingent of soldiers and a very few survivors found among the ruins and forests.

Marching north did not take long, though there had been a rather frightening discovery. Some of the survivors including the leader of the newly formed Free Army were found to be Dragon Summoners, those who have the power to communicate with Dragons and call upon Draconic Forces to aid them in battle. Dragon Summoners were know for kindness and compassion as well as great wisdom and strength, but their darker brethren, the Dragon Masters had been a permanent black mark upon their nearly flawless reputation.

Never the less, the lord and his men accepted them as did their fellows. The two armies marched north and met up with two German Armies and a Dutch Army opposing six Vatican sponsored armies around the German-Dutch-French border. The only saving grace for the four Protestant Armies and the Free Army, were three French Armies and a very large demon presence in the area.

Spain, France, and Austria had begun quarrelling. The French were planning on weakening their two power opponents, but preferably off French soil. The result disagreements had stayed the vast majority of the troops of the Vatican's Northern Armies. This enabled Danish and Norse troops to arrive and force the Catholic troops south for a while, but the demons had become a problem for all. Heavy fighting meant too few men were available to fight the demons and even fewer priests were available to reset wards and seals. Thus the Free Army found itself going through its first eight years as a moving demon countering army, which it soon proved highly adept at doing.

Then the Free Army, led by the Dragon Summoner, Draco Steel (not from Draco Malfroy from Harry Potter). His name which comes from Dragon and the fact that he has an iron will, but steel like personality. He lead his army to victory over the same Spanish lord, Juan Rodegiez de Cortez, which had sacked their homes. The battle had been fierce, but Lord Cortez had underestimated who he was fighting. His army, too, had been slaying demons, but where he cared little for the death of his men and the hardships he placed upon them, Draco did.

* * *

Draco had chosen a point were he could chase Cortez's men down a narrow valley with flanking fire from the heights. He had his Calvary pursue his enemies, while his infantry broke into three ranks. Two to defend the archers atop the valley walls and hills, and the third, to protect the Musketeers at the narrowest point in the valley, the eastern entrance.

Except for a few men who tried to stand and fight, or fight their way free. The plan worked flawlessly and left Cortez's army utterly and totally destroyed. The many conscripts and mercenaries saw mercy, but the small balk of Cortez's men, including Cortez, that were from wealthy families and/or just enjoyed whole sale slaughter and looting, were tried as criminals and beheaded. A very merciful end in comparison to what they had done over the eight years of active duty.

Still, they had one more man to hunt down. A monk who had stirred up the most trouble and betrayed his homeland to Cortez. A young monk who had become a missionary. A missionary bound for Japan.

Not knowing this, the Free Army was requested by the French, English, and Dutch leaderships to go to Japan and sabotage all missionary efforts. They were to march to Japan though some of the lands they had previously marched through. Lands such as the Holy Land, the Fertile Crescent, Burma, and China. They began their long march very quickly. Since having no home to return to, they had nothing else to do. They marched and as had happened over the eight years of their existence, they grew in numbers until they finally arrived in Japan, just west of the birth place of Oda Nobunaga, west of the lands of the Saito Clan, Koga Province, far north then most would dare, but not in war, but in vengeance.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Who ever made Inuyasha and his partners owns Inuyasha.

Claimer: I do own the Free Army though and all characters.

"_**Warriors of Freedom"**_

_**Chapter 1**_

"_**First Encounter"**_

Inuyasha and company had been heading south for quite some time now. Surprisingly, Kagura had escaped from Naraku with her heart and managed to run into Koga and company, before the others. She survived thanks to an agreement between Koga and herself. Naraku's head, for her life. Seeing how Naraku had controlled her and knowing that it was pure demon instinct that she has attacked his fellow wolves, Koga relented and agreed, but then Kohaku showed up and Kagome had just arrived in time to save Kagura.

Since then, Naraku relocated southward away from the north where the Northern Wolves had stopped fighting and started looking for him. Naraku had **_just barely_** escaped with his life. Even more so with Kohaku and Kanna, but he had left a visible trail for his enemies to follow. Now he was somewhere south and unknowingly in the path of a great human-demon army searching for an enemy just a little further south of him, but still, he was smack drab in the middle of the two.

The now enlarged company of Shard Hunters continued their trek south. They had gained in numbers very rapidly. Koga and Ayame's respectfully large packs were with Inuyasha and company. Then Sesshomaru had joined with a small force seeking vengeance against Naraku. Shori and her mother had also ended up joining the growing group. Now as they enter a new area, they met people streaming northward in large numbers, not because of demons, but of a clan's large army.

At this point with so many people heading north, Sesshomaru knew that trouble would not be far behind. So to keep human-demon peace, he took his force and headed north again to maintain the peace, so Naraku didn't try anything while there were light defenses against him there. Ayame also, reluctantly, turned back north to help, but Koga stopped her and her pack, knowing they'd need the extra strength to the south.

As the group moved south, human soldiers began joining them. They really didn't care about Naraku, but the Jewel of Four Souls had to be protected. While moving south, a large force of Shinto Priestesses joined them. Now if Kagome fell, there was still a chance to purify the Jewel, albeit a small chance. As if Inuyasha was going to allow Kagome to die. The group eventually got warning from a group of lords organizing a push south against an aggressive pagan army moving north. Here a Buddhist monk had requested that the Priestesses join the army group in defeating these traitors. They agreed after Kagome urged them on. There were already eight battalions of Priestesses, they made nine now.

As the smaller group moved south, they came upon a village that was being taken over by this army that the Northern Alliance was preparing to engage. They could see all kinds of people in odd clothes, but only Kagome knew who they were.

"**_Catholic Missionaries_**," she said with a cold and venomous voice.

Inuyasha had never heard her speak like that, nor any of the others either. That meant these missionaries were bad news and quite evil, though some were there fulfilling their sworn duties, others were there for money and power back home. One particular missionary was in it for even more than that. A traitor who had yet to learn that he had been followed, but right now, he was having a group of Shinto Priestesses and Buddhist monks "forced" to "repent" and convert to Catholicism.

The group, though, suddenly found themselves surrounded and when Inuyasha tried to draw Tetsiega from its sheath, a loud explosion, like that of thunder, echoed and Inuyasha dropped his sword, blood exploding from his forearm. He fell to his knees screaming in pain, as Kagome moved to tend to his wound, but she was back handed by a foreign man.

Koga and Ayame tracked the man who had shot Inuyasha and saw him to be foreign too. He stood with a smirk on his face and a matchlock musket in hand. Then one of the Japanese soldiers ordered them to march into the village. They complied for now and planned their escape.

In the village, the head missionary drew himself up and looked distastefully at the Shard Hunters. His eyes falling upon Kagome, he smirked, though hid it well. He had plans for her and the other human woman, and maybe the red headed demoness. Though business first, pleasure later.

"Ah, more fallen children and traveling with demons no less," he spoke very broken Japanese, a translator had to, well, translate. "Why is this land full of so many lost…"

"Bloody Git!" Kagome yelled.

Everyone just stared at her. She had just spoken a foreign language. The missionaries and their guards from Europe were taken back by the remark and the language. One of the European soldiers grabbed Kagome by the hair and yanked her up to her feet. The lead missionary looked angrily at her. He, too, spoke English.

"A bloody wench is what you are my dear girl! And were in the Lord's Good Name did you learn English!" he demanded, not ask.

"Houshi-no-baka," was her reply, causing even the Japanese Catholics to try and fail to hold their laughter back. As did the few Japanese speaking Europeans.

He slapped her outright, infuriated that she had the gall to insult him. He didn't know what it all meant, but he knew an insult. Wanting to prove something, he ordered a rifleman from Spain to kill Inuyasha, but before the trigger happy rifleman could lift his weapon, his head exploded and showered everyone with what had been his brains, skull, and just about everything else that makes a head, a head.

Looking to where the shot had originated, a man in a simple suit of reinforced leather and plate of European background stood, a deadly serious look upon his face. His helmet was also unusual. It wasn't traditional European like his armor, but the symbol was. A most feared symbol, a bright, white star with a yellow streak of lighting running through, set atop fire and water. The cloth that held the symbol was green with blue and red shoulders.

The man just stood, but then a large force of men appeared behind him and leveled their rifles at the Catholics.

"FIRE!" was yelled in many tongues, as well as Japanese and Spanish.

The volley scattered the Catholics, but a few of the "Catholic" Japanese had dropped down and taken cover during the initial volley. Now they worked from person to person, cutting their bindings. Two wrapped Inuyasha's still bleeding forearm in a bandage, before moving on to free other prisoners.

When the two reached Koga and Ayame, they didn't hesitate to cut their bindings. Koga grabbed one of them and as he was standing up, the second man knocked them both down. He had just been in time, as a Catholic volley had just been released and missed them by a hair's width. Koga, after hearing the rounds whine over his head, intelligently decided to interrogate on the ground.

"Why are you freeing us?" he asked, humbled a bit by the near-death experience.

"We're loyal Japanese servants to the Emperor," came the reply and Koga dropped the subject.

Volleys of arrows then started to shower the area, many with flaming heads. Then a great gust of wind and then it started to rain, extinguishing the flames. The rain also had the added effect of wetting all the gunpowder in the area, thereby making all muskets useless. Any more flaming arrows were also rendered useless. The sound of swords and spears clashing together rang throughout the land and the two sides went into melee combat.

In the end the Catholics fled the battle, beaten and broken that day. Kagome stared at the laughing group of victorious foreign warriors. She heard many an insult hurled at the backs of the retreating enemy. She heard French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Polish, Vietnamese, and at least a dozen others languages spoken and religious deities names praised. There were men and women, humans and demons. She was just so amazed to see so many different people working together and seemingly for a single cause, but the question was, who are they?


End file.
